Jim has been the South Florida Section Junior Golf Leader (2000) and has won the following PGA awards: 2003 PGA Horton Smith (So. Florida) Award, 1996 and 1998 PGA South Florida Section Teacher of the Year, 1994 PGA National Teacher of the Year, 1987 Metropolitan PGA Horton Smith Award, and 1986 Metropolitan PGA Teacher of the Year. Inducted into the Pacific Northwest Hall of Fame in 2003.

He is a member of the professional advisory staff with: Kasco Corp,GolfLink.com, The Greg Norman Collection, Swing Solutions and Harrison Shafts and the author of over 20 top selling instructional books, videos and CD-Rom's.

Jim is probably best known for his research on the golf swing and his work on The X Factor, which describes in detail, body motions, body angles and body positions. He is also the founder of the 8-Step Swingsm teaching system. The Eight Step video is the all time best selling video on The Golf Channel and the all time #1 golf DVD in America. Jim's "Eight Step Swing" book was ranked by Sports Illustrated as one of the top golf instruction books of the 20th century (ranked #11). "The Golf Swing: Ben Hogan" video has won 6 major awards (3 Aurora awards in 2000 and 3 Telly awards in 2001) - the most of any golf video in history.

Jim's playing achievements include being one of the few people to qualify for the US Junior, the US Amateur (4 times) the US Open (2 times) and the US Senior Open and has also been a contestant in the Masters (where he made the cut). Winner of the Northwest Open and 3 time winner of the Pacific Northwest Amateur. Jim was the Pacific Coast Amateur Champion (at Olympic, San Francisco) winner of the National Skins Game Pro-Am (seen on ESPN $61,000), winner of the Westchester PGA and runner-up at the Metropolitan PGA Championship. Jim has qualified for the National Club Pro Championships ten times. Jim was an All-American at the University of Houston and when he left the team, it had won 12 of 16 NCAA's and finished 2nd in the other four. He was winner of more than 50 Junior and Amateur Titles in the Pacific Northwest. Jim was also named 1st alternate to the US World Cup Team in 1972. He played the PGA Tour during the winter of 1982.

Jim's professional achievements include: National PGA Teaching Committee Member, National PGA Education Committee, National PGA Awards Committee and PGA Master Professional (1990). Jim is an Instruction Editor for Golf Digest since 1997 and instruction Editor and Advisor for The Golf Channel since its' inception in 1995. Jim appears regularly on The Golf Channel Academy . He was the Co-Chairman of the PGA Teaching and Coaching Summit in 1992 held in San Francisco. He has led over 50 national teaching and playing workshops for the PGA of America and has been the featured speaker at 6 National PGA Teaching Summits and 4 Teaching & Coaching Summits in Europe. He was Master Instructor for Golf Magazine from 1990 - 1997 and was an Instruction Writer for Golf Illustrated from 1985 - 1990.

The Jim McLean Future Collegians World Tour conducts junior events all across America. There are over 60 national events scheduled and sold out in 2004. It is currently the second biggest junior tour in America.

Jim was in charge of and over saw the 1999 re-design and restoration project for The Blue Monster golf course at Doral. Over 120 bunkers, plus several greens, were totally changed and 160 yards were added to the course. Doral is ranked #3 in the State of Florida (2003).

He has worked with George Zahringer since 1975 (2003 Walker Cup selection). George was the winner of the 2002 US Mid Am, runner up in 2001, and dominant player in the Met Area for over 20 years.

Jim has worked extensively (at his facilities) with four junior golfers (Cristie Kerr, Eric Compton, James Vargas, Liz Janagelo, Tyler Leon) since 1996 that have reached the #1 ranking in America. The Jim McLean Golf Schools have produced a huge number of top juniors who have received college scholarships. The Weston Hills Golf Academy has over 350 juniors in its junior program.

There are eight Master Instructors who have worked under Jim that have been named to America's "Top 100 Instructors" list and nineteen on The Golf Digest top teacher list.

Jim was the Director of Golf at 4 top clubs, 3 in New York which included Suningdale Golf Club, Quaker Ridge G.C. (site of the 1997 Walker Cup) and Sleepy Hollow G.C. (site of The Commemorative Senior Tour event for 6 years) and whose members included the well known Rockefeller family and Bill Murray. He was also the Director of Golf at Tamarisk Country Club in Rancho Mirage California, site of the Bob Hope Classic which was a part of The Bob Hope tour event rotation.

1998 PGA South Florida Section Teacher of the Year
1996 PGA South Florida Section Teacher of the Year
1994 PGA National Teacher of the Year
1986 Metropolitan PGA Teacher of the Year
1987 Metropolitan PGA Horton Smith Award